A loud siren blared as the temperature of the air went from cool to downright freezing.
Civilians on the street shivered and looked all around for the source of the new change in the air, some pulling their jackets and cardigans closer to their bodies.
As if to answer their question, a thin sheet of ice covered the road in an instant as a dark blur whizzed past them, police cars speeding after it. Bystanders looked back and forth, confused by what they had just seen, until they heard someone shout, "Hail Storm!"
The people looked up. A dark short, stout figure in a tight black and purple body suit was seen skating down the street, a sheet of ice underneath their feet helping them move faster than a speed boat.
And the police apparently.
Hail Storm was yet another villain that the people of Maryland didn't see very often, but when they did, he was usually seen robbing a bank or corner store, then taunting police before making a devastating getaway. One of the police cars chasing after Hail Storm on the now icy road swiveled and swerved until it eventually slid off of the road and went spinning then crashed into a nearby building, sending the people inside out screaming and cursing.
"BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME PIGGIES!!" The officers in question heard as they stumbled out of the totaled car. Hail Storm cackled as he hiked his bag further over his shoulder, creating a large sheet of ice to slide, large dark purple afro blowing in the wind, further away from the scene of the crime. Little did Hail Storm know, a figure same in height was watching them overhead on a building up above, chewing a stick of peach flavored bubblegum, waiting for the moment Hail Storm slipped up to get a good opening.
The overhead figure furrowed their eyebrows, then with a loud smack of their gum, deciding that now that Hail Storm was getting cocky would be the best time to drop in. With a quick adjustment of their legwarmers, the figure hopped down from the rooftops onto a long spiraling metal staircase on the side of the building underneath the one they were just standing on, sliding down the railing until they hit the hard ground of the small alley way between the buildings, dashing out into the street, catching Hail Storm by surprise, making them stop in their tracks, looking the newcomer up and down.
"And you are?" Hail Storm asked with a raised eyebrow.
The bystanders looked out onto the street, noticing Hail Storms still form figure, one by one each of the civilians walked closer to the scene, murmuring in confusion as to why Hail Storm had seemingly stopped. Even the police were confused.
"Me?" They heard a new voice ask from in front of Hail Storm. The owner of the voice chuckled. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of me by now, but since you don't know; let's introduce ourselves." A few police officers looked at each other in bewilderment.
"My name… Is Psycha-Delic! And I'm the new hero 'round these parts!"
The crowd murmured excitedly, all gathering closer to the edge of the pavement to get a better look at the self-proclaimed hero. Most people had thought Psycha was just going to fizzle into the night like all of the other "heroes", but others speculated that she had to return after Twister had declared the two of them rivals. One thing those who were able to see her immediately noticed the change in her appearance from her first debut. Her bulky jumpsuit costume was replaced by a sleek dark purple leotard with a high collar that went up to her chin, a long bright purple strip going down the center. The heavy sleeves were replaced by two bright purple off shoulder sleeves and in turn the long jogging pants were replaced by leg warmers of the same color as the sleeves. Her shoes, visor, and hair pieces were still the same, however the visor had been replaced by Rob and Sanchi to be fully functional and accommodate Psycha's power, however they kept the same design.
Psycha caught the crowd staring at her new attire and flushed. "New and improved." She added slyly.
Hail Storm stood staring at her, crossed arms, tapping his feet and looking her up and down. Eventually he rolled his eyes and asked, "You done? Or would you like to do a three-sixty?" Psycha turned her attention back to him. The villain in question shifted back to his original position, fists raised in a ready stance, like he was about to make another get away. "Well hero… It was fun, but you're in my way, so if you don't mind.."
Psycha quickly remembered a small tidbit of information that Megumi had slipped to her during one of their training sessions, a smirk spreading across her features. "Now hold on now," Psycha said holding her hands out gently. "I said let's introduce ourselves, it's usually customary after one person introduces themselves to you, you do the same. I'm Psycha," She said. Hail Storm's face scrunched up. Psycha held her hand out for Hail Storm to shake. "And you are?"
The crowd hushed. Hail Storm looked gob smacked. His stance faltered, as he stood spluttering and shaking his head, looking back from the crowd to Psycha, completely flabbergasted. He gestured to his stout frame covered by his flamboyant dark purple and black two-piece suit, lined with bright purple accents. His bright green eyes were ablaze under his dark purple mask as he exclaimed, "What do you mean, 'and you are?! Wha-?!" Hail Storm turned back to the crowd, his large afro unable to keep up with how fast his head was moving. "The AUDACITY!" He shouted to the crowd.
He turned back to Psycha. "You're lying. EVERYONE knows who I am!" He pointed to the symbol on the middle of his jacket. It was a dark storm cloud with chunks of hail coming out of it. Psycha noticed he had the exact same earrings to match. Psycha grinned further as she shrugged. "Never heard of ya." She said.
Hail Storm stared at her agape. Psycha stood smirking at him, the two of them locked in some sort of standstill, where Hail Storm already looked defeated even though the only thing that had been defeated was his ego. Hail Storm comically gritted and gnashed his teeth before realizing that there was no real way around this.
"The names… Hail. Storm." He seethed.
"Sorry what was that? Gail Form?" Psycha asked. Hail Storm scrunched his face up in anger. "Hail Storm." He said a bit louder. "Fail Mourn? Edgy." Psycha said, doing her best to hold back her laughter. The villains face turned such a dark red that Psycha was surprised there wasn't steam coming out of his ears. "HAIL STORM!!" He exclaimed. "HAIL! Like the stuff that falls from the sky and puts people in the hospital! STORM! Thunder storm! Lightning storm-!" "That's such a long name.." Psycha drawled, hands on her hips and tilting her head away from Hail Storm.
"You know, I was told that my hero name was too long, but honestly yours is making me feel better." She said with a wide grin.
"Never mind!" Hail Storm exclaimed, throwing his hands to the side in exasperation. "I've got a better idea." He said with a smirk. "I'll show you exactly who I am, and what I'm capable of, in a way that you WILL NEVER FORGET! HAIL RAIN!" Hail Storm shouted, raising his hands into the air, making a large dark purple storm cloud form in between his palms. "Wait your name is Hail Rain? I thought it was The Stuff That Falls From The Sky-" "DIE!"
Psychas' taunting was cut short as Hail Storm pulled his hands back down to his shoulders, clenching his fists as the dark cloud began to shoot out pellets of hail rapidly towards Psycha, who dashed out of the way, flipping through the air to dodge the chunks of ice, a smile still on her face as she spun around, much to the annoyance of Hail Storm.
She swiftly made her way back to her original position, staggering slightly as she regained her footing. She huffed and quickly brought her fists up to her shoulders, the telling soft 'pong' signaling the appearance of her bright purple rings, spinning quickly around her wrists with a low buzz and a soft glow. "You're a bit too cold," She jeered as Hail Storm huffed six feet in front of her. She raised up her right arm, making her ring spin faster as she clenched her fist tighter. "Hasn't anybody ever told you to brighten up!" She quickly launched the ring at Hail Storm, the ring hitting shoulder, making him jump back in pain while spluttering and cursing. "That was awful! And it barely matched what just happened!"
But the crowd didn't care. They were cheering on their new hero so loudly that it made a burst of pride swell in Psycha's chest.
She held her chin up high and launched the second ring at Hail Storm, which her dodged, but Psycha was able to pull the ring back towards him, hitting him in the back like a boomerang. "GAH!" He exclaimed, attempting to clutch his stinging back much to the amusement of the crowd. Hail Storm didn't like that. He turned to the crowd. "Oh you all think that's funny?!" He bellowed.
"HOW ABOUT AN ENCORE THE?!" With a wicked grin, Hail Storm balled up his fist and made a long punching motion over the crowd, a heavy sheet of ice following along with it. The crowd quickly stopped laughing. Psycha gasped. People began running back into buildings and scattering on the opposite ends of the street. Hail Storm laughed maniacally, turning his head back to Psycha. "How are you going to play this one off hero?!" A mad glint in his eyes.
Psycha quickly glanced to the crowd, summoning four rings on her wrists. She looked to her feet, then quickly took off running, sending the rings through the sheet of ice, blasting holes in the large frozen wave, but by the time she had broken one sheet, Hail Storm had created more sheets somewhere on the opposite side of her.
She kept hopping around, blasting more holes as more and more citizens ran away, turning back to Hail Storm once enough people had gotten away from the action, slightly confused by the manic grin on his face. "It was nice to meet you today little hero," He sneered, Psycha was incredibly confused. Why did he look like he won? "But it's about time that you-" Hail Storm raise his arms up, and that's when Psycha saw it. While she was trying to keep the citizens safe from the ice, she failed to look out for her own safety as she was now surrounded by a large pyramid of ice, all of which the holes that she had made were now repaired. "-chill out!" Hail Storm shouted.
Before she could even react, Psycha was fully trapped under the collapsed pyramid of ice, different shards and debris of all sizes hurling down on top of her at lighting speed all to the screams and cries of the onlookers around them.
Then all was still.
The crowd held their breath, Hail Storm was still in the same pose, adrenaline pumping through his chest, the pile of ice rubble didn't budge.
"Ha… HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAA!! THAT'S HOW YOU DO A PROPER ONE LINER!!" He bellowed through ragged pants. "FOOLS!" He pointed to the crowd, who all tremored and cowered as his finger landed on them. He pulled bac and looked around at them incredulously. "Did you REALLY think some D-Lister wannabe hero could defeat ME?!" The crowd backed away from him, silent still, some glancing to the pile of ice, hoping, which made Hail Storm laugh harder.
He rolled his shoulders and pulled his bag further over his shoulder, turning away from the crowd, holding up two fingers in a mock salute as he slowly stalked off with an extra pep in his step, popping a piece of gum in his mouth before shouting, "LATER NERDS!"
He walked down the street for a few more minutes, relishing in his victory, before he seemingly remembered that there were police behind him, then creating a large sheet of ice, slowly getting a head start skating off when he hears a slight rumble behind him. Thinking it's the police coming to their senses, rolling his eyes at the thought, skating faster as the rumbles got louder and louder.
Behind him however, the police were helping to get Psycha out of the rubble while others did their best to get back into their cars to chase after Hail Storm. While the officers were pulling the ice off of her, some of the onlookers notices the ice was forming a large puddle underneath them, much larger than the temperature of the air would provide, which caused some of them to nudge each other and point to the increasing puddle, and becoming even more intrigued when one of the officers jolted back from the ice, exclaiming something about being burned.
The other officers looked at her confused. Burned? What did she mean burned? Like freezer burn? The crowd was whispering. But before they could speculate any further, the ice began to visibly melt away in from of them, revealing a slightly wet, slightly trembling, but very miffed neon super hero.
She had six rings on her arms- three on each arm- all whirring and spinning on overtime.
She looked back to the officers and the crowd. "Thanks so much for your help, but now-" She turned back to the retreating figure of Hail Storm. "-If you'll excuse me, I have a petty case to attend to." "You won't be able to catch him on foot." One of the officers told her, pointing to the speeding police car that was still a pathetic distance behind Hail Storm. Psycha scrunched up her face so hard, that her glasses almost slipped when she looked down at her feet.
"Maybe we could give you a ride or-…."
Psycha looked up from her feet, glowing, literally-with the help of her rings- and figuratively as she lit up with her new idea. She tossed two rings to the ground, the two extinguishing and disappearing instantly as she did, much to the amazement of the officers around her.
Psycha flicked her arm downwards, sending her rings up to her palm, then quickly closing her palm she shrunk the rings down to around one third of their size, throwing them down to her feet, nervously flexing her toes as she watched with bated breath as she and the two officers next to her looked down in confusion as well.
As if drawn by a magnet, the rings snapped to the sides of her shoes, giving her a jolt of surprise as they began spinning madly when she clenched her fist, whirring on the ground and smoking the longer they touched the concrete road. With a hopeful expression she did the same to the other side, then her other foot, wobbling slightly as she tried to gain her balance, the officers reflexively putting their arms up to catch her as she staggered.
The one to her left looked at the angrily spinning rings in bewilderment. "Do you really think this will work?" He asked her. She flashed him a smile to hide the nervous feeling in her gut. "We're all about to find out now, aren't we?" She said.
Psycha relaxed her hands which caused the rings to whir slower and slower as she fully got her balance, getting into position to take off, thanking her previous experience on roller blades at the diner as she slowly clenched her fist again, skating off slowly at first, testing the waters; then increasingly clenching her fists more and more making the rings underneath her spin faster, giving her more confidence as she picked up speed, zooming faster and faster even speeding past one of the police cars, causing the officer inside to swerve slightly in shock.
Psycha couldn't stop the massive grin on her face as she bolted down the nearly empty street after Hail Storm, the ice he was leaving behind only making her pick up more speed, which seemed to deter her slightly at first when she just started speeding across the ice, but was quickly able to regain her bearings and begin closing in on Hail Storm with double the speed of the police cars.
The villain in question was still leisurely and haughtily streaking down the road on their sheet of ice, still unaware of the bright purple blur closing in behind him. Psycha took his moment of obliviousness to summon another ring on her arm, raising it into the air and launching it at Hail Storm, intentionally missing him in order to get his attention. Hail Storm turned, shocked to see the hero on his tail, clenching his teeth in frustration as he raised his hands up, creating a large ice barrier between the two of them, speeding ahead in annoyance which turned into a quick panic as one of Psycha's rings blasted through the ice, creating a large enough hole for her to slip through, picking up speed faster and faster the more ice that Hail Storm kept creating. Hail Storm cursed as more police cars raced on the streets beside them, trying to weave onto the next street, shooting another wall of ice at the police car that was turning on to the same street he was.
Hail Storm swerved onto the next street, stopped by yet another police car, swerved onto the next street, and was confronted by yet another car, stumbling forward, glancing left and right before turning back around to see Psycha standing in front of him, fuming and steaming as much as her searing rings that were angrily spinning on her arms, hissing and whirring like a kettle coming to a roaring boil.
Hail Storm stared back at her, still stumbling on the ice and the shock of being finally apprehended, pushing his afro back as he regained his footing, police cars swerving and screeching on every side of them. Once the sirens and engines stopped, police gotten out of their cars with weapons and cuffs drawn, Hail Storm straightened up and looked back at Psycha. "So," Hail Storm panted, feigning nonchalance, "Psycha Delic was it?" Psycha glared back at him, flexing her fingers to make the rings wider and spin faster in response. Hail Storm panted further, straightening out his top. "Not the time for jokes, eh?" He said.
"PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND COME QUIETLY, WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED!!" The two heard an officer shout from behind them, but neither super moved or made any acknowledgement that they had even heard them.
"Surrounded…." Hail Storm muttered. He glanced around at the officers and Psycha, then looked up, lightly smirking to himself, then with rapid speed shooting ice like stilts to blast away from the scene, much to the officers- and mostly Psycha's, frustration. Psycha let out an infuriated scream before sending the rings up the tall ice sky scraper, shooting the rings after Hail Storm as he kept creating more ice stilts to get away from the scene, the officers getting back in their cars to chase after him.
The cars swerved and weaved through the stilts as Psycha created large rings to slice through the ones underneath Hail Storm that were falling to the ground, while also trying to reach the ones her was actively using. Psycha saw the officers communicating with each other via their walkie talkies, making her increasingly more miffed as they currently weren't doing anything other than getting in her way.
"CAN'T YOU GUYS HIT THEM WITH YOUR CARS OR SOMETHING?!" Psycha yelled to one of the cars open windows. "We could but that would total the car and cost a lot of tax money!" Psycha rolled her eyes. "DON'T YOU GUYS HAVE A HELICOPTER?!" "We can't use it in well populated areas like this!"
"Guhhh, I'm beginning to see why he's availed arrest so many times." Psycha grumbled to herself.
As if she saw some sort of connecting thread that would solve all of her problems, Psycha began to see a path that would make her able to reach Hail Storm in record time and also not have to deal with the police getting in her way. Psycha soared forward, jumping on the stationary piece of ice, creating a large enough ring to slice the next one in half, giving her a way to jump on top of it, continuing to slice and jump until she had once again found herself behind Hail Storm, then just as he turned with a smirk on his face-
The police cars came once again to a screeching halt as Hail Storm came tumbling down, crashing on top of one of them, officers quickly rushing out of their cars to get to him. Psycha stood on the stilts, heaving and panting, shaking from the number of rings she used, breaking one of the stilts so she could hop to the ground, stumbling and staggering as she hit the ground, officers coming up to her to help her stand up. As Psycha looked up, she saw Hail Storm being put into handcuffs and his bag confiscated- not without kicking and screaming however- until he looked up, seemingly still with an unreadable expression. Confused and curious, Psycha looked up to see what he was looking at as well.
Megumi stared at the scene in front of her, sling bag heavy over her shoulder, water bottle held loosely in her other hand as both Hail Storm and Psycha stared at her, expecting.